Memories

The trouble with memories is that the strongest ones and the ones you
retain are more often tinged with sadness; one such memory is the death
of two 893 personnel. During the refitting of an ejection seat in
the hangar a service procedure possibly was not followed with the result
that the seat activated taking with it the supervising CPO and the LAM(O);
both died within a very short time of the accident. Now, bearing in mind
that this was within a few weeks of me joining the ship, as the newest
mess member I had the bunk that acted as a seat and was in use much of
the time. This meant I could not turn in until everybody had decided to
vacate the seat. The Leading Hand of the mess had told me that I could
have the next folding bunk to become available. Guess which mess the
fatally wounded LAM(O) was from and I was ordered by the Leading Hand of
the Mess to move my bedding into what was now a spare bunk. The phrase
"Dead man's shoes" almost became too literal.

I remember a car being fired from the port catapult, and if my memory serves
me a dummy was put in the driving seat in a naval officer's uniform. I
often wonder what some future unsuspecting diving expedition is going to
make of one Ford Prefect miles from land sitting on the ocean floor.

Anyway Sea Vixens and the Victorious. In 1966 we sailed with Mk.II Vixens
as you know the visual difference being the protruding liquid oxygen tank
stowages on either wing. I also remember a rather nasty radio aerial on
the underside which was aptly named a 'Sharks Fin Aerial'. During the course of
routine servicing as a young greenie (Electrician) I often cursed that aerial
as it always caught me as I ran under the aircraft. The scars have healed now
but despite the warnings about it we never learned.

Our mess was under the angle either 6a or 6b I can�t remember which for
sure. This mess was highly sought after because it had a large recreational
space. To our horror, during a refit six new bunks had been added and the 'rec space'
was no more. After a count up by the killick of the mess he noticed we
had six spare bunks with everybody on board so out came the cutting tools and
they were consigned to the deep. All went well until we arrived at Gibraltar.
There, six new members were sent to our mess. The reg office was informed that
we had no room or bunks, which resulted in a visit from the friendly
regulating staff. They took one look and then went off moaning about idle dockyard
mateys who had been detailed to install new bunks. Oh happy days!

When I was the deck greenie I used to position myself in front of the
island during launches (standing there, was as close as you could get
to aircraft at launch, any closer and you were toast). I used to like to
stand there at launches, as the Pilot went to full throttle, signalled
his readiness to the FDO, (Flight Deck Officer) my teeth would vibrate;
the noise was horrendous. Even with the JBDs (Jet Blast Deflectors) one
could still feel the hot blast coming from the twin tail pipes. Then, as
they reached full power down would come the FDO's flag - whoosh went the
steam cat and off into the wild blue yonder it went closely followed by
the aircraft on the other cat then the noise was gone. The power of the
Rolls Royce engines was so evident. At times we would launch four
aircraft and then clear the deck to recover four. We attempted to fly
four over four ie four off then four on, turn them around and repeat the
procedure. Of course while we were doing our bit 801 (Buccaneers), 849
(Gannets) and 814 (SAR Helicopters) were all completing their respective
flying programs.

The flight deck was a dangerous place to be during flying operations and
considering that the average age on deck was at times less than twenty,
accidents were kept at a minimum throughout operations because we were
disciplined and trained.

I remember my first visit to the hangar shortly after joining the Vic in
65 I was on my own and found my way down to four deck, (remember I had
not even seen an aircraft carrier before let alone served on one). I
knew it was on four-deck somewhere so I asked a CPO (who looked very
stokerish) if he could tell me where the hangar is. I was at the time
actually standing outside the hangar access hatch to which he politely
told me so and then went off muttering f****** WAFUS.

Visitor Comments

32 people have commented on this page. This is comment section 1 of 4.

Peter Robson from Maple Ridge

Posted at 3:09pm on Wednesday, May 31st, 2017

Hello to any 893 squadron members who served at Yeovilton(HMS HERON) between 1962 thru 69. particularly from radar/radio branch.served on HMS Victorious.At a time when all the trouble with Malaysia and Indonesia. e-mail currently petesue@telus.net
Had connected with Andrew Wade back in 2014 but since have lost communication

Robin Louvel from Cornwall

Posted at 3:30pm on Saturday, December 27th, 2014

As a tiff a/e i trained and worked mostly on Sea Vixens. As an app I went to Sea as a volunteer on HMS Centaur when she was rushe d to Aden in Feb 63. short of aircraft and crew. 893 sent about 6 vixens and a couple of Scimitars were added to make up numbers.We operated out of RAF kormaksar for a short time Chasing I not what but LT Cdr shepard our Co took photos of a shrub in the middle of the desert then called sheperds bush.We did manage to sink a bum boat in Aden harbour when a chopper going to Kormaksa... read more »read more »

Jacquie Barnard from Yorkshire

Posted at 9:41am on Monday, December 1st, 2014

Hi peter Barlow was my 2nd cousin and have been speaking to my mother who has some photos of Peter if anyone would be interested in copies,

Chris Howells from Thirsk

Posted at 8:02pm on Friday, July 11th, 2014

I was a young kid when Victorious visited Grand Harbour, Malta on the cruise shown above. I even took a photo from Upper Baracca gardens. BTW this is not spam despite what your 'filter' picked up.

Peter Robson from White Rock

Posted at 6:24pm on Thursday, June 12th, 2014

Anybody that served in FAA between1961t069 Was radio/Radar tech served on the Victorious in about 64 spent rest at Yeovilton HMS HERON

Roger Mills from Tewkesbury

Posted at 12:55pm on Tuesday, January 29th, 2013

I have many memories of working with Sea Vixens .As a young Radio Electrical Mechanic (Air) fresh from Heron Flight (where I "qualified to maintain" Hunter T8C and Vampires !),I joined Number 766 Naval Air Squadron in 1965 ,and was informed that I was to be a " Combined Electrical Mechanic (Air)", although the scheme was dropped ,luckily ! Sadly,during my time with 766 we lost several aircraft and aircrews ,one of whose funeral I attended at Yeovilton church ; the Vixen could be unforgiv... read more »read more »

Neil Corbett from aberdeen

Posted at 10:42pm on Thursday, April 12th, 2012

Hi Janet,Bob and John

Have seen your posts regarding test pilots Peter Barlow and Jock Elliot. I am trying to find out more information on Peter Barlow's career and also get decent photographs of him for my test pilot tribute website. Are you able to assist?
Regards
Neil Corbett

Peter Robson from Canada

Posted at 6:29pm on Thursday, November 18th, 2010

Jim Dale and Andy Wade how do I contact you both have written in the comments section? we served together on HMS Victorious on 893 sq. p.s.robson@shaw.ca

Cedwien Brown from Rothwell Northants

Posted at 9:37pm on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

Cedwien Evans was my Auntie. I was named after her as I was the first girl to be born after her death. Please get in touch Valerie Beasley as I would love to see the autograph book. I am only about 70 miles away from you.

Gordon Pugh from truro cornwall

Posted at 10:56pm on Friday, July 30th, 2010

Hi I was talking to my father only last night he knew Jock Elliot and was telling me he gave him a quick cockpit check before sending my father off in a DH110 at Hurn